Set-top-boxes connect a user's television to a content provider and allow the user to access live television as well as archived television programming and/or movies, music, games, etc. The collection of content available to the user is typically enormous, and oftentimes unwieldy, to the point that the user is unable to find desired content among the available content. The growth of video-streaming over the Internet only exacerbates this issue.
Content providers utilize set-top-boxes with electronic programming guides (EPGs) as a way for the user to navigate the content. The set-top-boxes often have electronic program guides with recommendation engines that provide suggestions of content to the user based on the user's viewing history. The recommendation engine can automatically record shows and channels, and present advertising based on the viewing history. The recommendation engine typically gathers data from input received from a remote control. Generally, the input may be correlated with external sources.
However, with the proliferation of portable communication devices, such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, etc., and streaming of content over the Internet to these devices, the usefulness of the set-top-box recommendation engine decreases. Although many set-top-boxes are Internet-enabled, the portable devices bypass the set-top-box when accessing the content and therefore information that could be highly relevant to a recommendation goes unused.